"These are not in and of themselves indicators that there is going to be a rocket test six months from now," Joel Wit, a former North Korea specialist at the State Department who is now with 38 North, told CNN about the photos.
It is not clear from the photos, Wit said, whether the test was for the second stage of the Unha-3 rocket, which North Korea used in a successful launch test last December, or whether it was a test for a stage of another larger rocket.

The Sohae launch facility, where the latest photos were taken, is the same facility from which North Korea has conducted previous rocket launches, including last December's test.

In recent months, similar satellite imagery has shown what look to be other instances of rocket-engine tests by North Korea, as well as the resumption of production at a previously closed plutonium production site.

North Korea faces a very long list of sanctions for its past provocative behavior that runs from missile launch tests to nuclear tests. Bellicose rhetoric from the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un earlier this year reached a point where the United States military posture in the Asia Pacific region was adjusted in case hostilities broke out on the divided Korean peninsula.

Those tensions have seemingly simmered in recent months, and a joint industrial park operated by both the North and South recently reopened after the North shuttered it earlier this year.

But analysts like Wit who follow developments in the North say the latest satellite photos show the country is not likely to change it's approach to missile development any time soon.

"These kinds of activities are continuing despite whatever outward posture they have, and people will have to get realistic about it," he said.

All of those folks who wishes to 'nuke' the North Korean regime with a nuclear bomb but they themselves don't want other certain nations to have nuclear capabilities. Hypocrites ! 18 year old kid: Lets nuke em already CoD style
Old wise guy: How do you come to terms with that ? Its all Politics man,Politics, if that is your best interest of your antio9n to bomb North Korea, than its in the North Koreans interests to build their capabilities, than thereafter after its all said and done lets fight and see who wins and the winner will dictate terms...

You guys remember that scene from the Right Stuff where they were testing the first rockets, and it goes up a foot, falls down, and blows up? Then goes up a foot, falls over, and blows up? Then nothing happens but the nosecone flies off?

You're comparing the US in the 60's when it was the most prosperous nation in the world with a backwater country that can't even afford to feed or provide electricity for its citizens. There won't be any North Koreans orbiting the Earth as long as that regime stays in power, don't worry...

September 23, 2013 at 4:41 pm |

Willy

I think NK would love to have the capability to hit the USA but these are not religious radicals. They would have to gain something from doing such a thing. With these guys money talks.

Lovely how liberals keep wanting to claim victory over bin Laden or how Obama is so tough... You realize the entire operation and tactics began under Bush, right?

So Obama is very good at following the leader... nice.

September 23, 2013 at 12:50 pm |

Divebus

@MadMoto – if you wish to look it up you'll find that the Bush administration stopped looking for Bin Laden. Look up "C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden" from 2006. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good teabag rant.

September 23, 2013 at 9:36 pm |

Pliny

Asia needs a simple, unified policy on NK.

And it's very simple. Any attack by North Korea is considered as an attack by the People's Republic of China.

Joe......I'm a little confused. If the Chinese kicked our asses, then why isn't it just the DPRK? The ROK still exists, right? Compare casualties between the two countries and it does not support your 'asses kicked' theory. The Chinese had no regards for their infantry and just used human waves to try and push the UN forces back. (Please notice that I pointed out UN and not US)

Guess old Obama and Kerry are a bit too busy to worry about old business eh? One morning we'll all wake up to the headlines that N. Korea has just launched a nuclear missile at someone, and they demand attention.

China has announce stopping sales of weapons of mass destruction and parts to DPRK as of September 23, 2013, in compliance with UN decisions. That is, requests for qutation were entertained till September 22. China has also issued statements condemning nations deploying anti-missile defense systems, claiming they will impact preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons, just because China still doesn't have working antimissile systems to deploy.

But yet if you go to google maps and or click this link https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl the site looks clean. id like to now how updated google maps is, becasue if google maps is current, one of the pics is a ploy to stir us up.

According to the article, these photos were taken about a month ago. Google Maps is almost never that current. It's usually years old.

September 23, 2013 at 9:59 am |

what

All you have to do is look closer at the google image and you'll see the 2012 watermark. But of course it's more fun to just go on ahead and throw potential conspiracy theories out there based on your known lack of knowledge.

September 23, 2013 at 10:14 am |

Francisco

The US just sent up it's first spy satellite that can take pictures of the world with a high tech camera that is supposed to be able to read a car's license plate. And since that is information that the government told us, that means it can do much more. It can probable take pictures with a resolution good enough to be able to read the words of a novel you are reading in your backyard.

September 23, 2013 at 10:38 am |

Scott

Ummm, the US has had satellites that can read the date on a dime for the last 3 decades. Get with it.

NK's rocket tech is probably based on tech given to them long ago by the Soviet Union (who, itself got its rocket technology from the Nazis). Actually, all of their equipment is based on pre-collapse Soviet Hardware.

America did not steal from Germany. America robbed them by invasion. Remember the Normandy ? And America shipped out shiploadfuls of designs of rockets, atomic bombs, jet engines, plane designs,plans of steel manufacturing processes, chemical plants, and all scientists and engineers associated with them. All of them takenat gun point. They are called fortunes of war.

If I was an ultra rich guy, above the islamic law, this is what I would do. Ally with key players, IE Iran NK Syria China Russia etc. Keep the CC elements undercover (ie me) and play hot potato. Bounce from country to country exterminating kaffirs at three basic speeds under the guise of protest. You have the starting speed, 25 – 3000 killed a day. The recoil speed, when the world notices 25-99 dead per day, and the one they have yet to use, all out war. You simply stop and send the fighters elsewhere when it gets too hot. Because of the society they live in, it is really easy to control the armies , just martyr the ones you can't control. No one is in uniform any way so you just use the rage against your enemy by misrepresenting who did it. The good dogs , are allowed to grow old , the ones that are easily controlled. But for all this to work you would need a 'promised land' that offered everything you can imagine , like snow sking in a desert. An Icon of the power since the actual generals themselves are hidden (me in this hypothetical), Islam in this case, and a purpose built reward, or promise, dubai.
It is all a game of hot potato. Eventually it will boil over to a real war , the question is how far the opposing force is degraded to before it does. It is as if syrians were being held hostage to buy time. If you play the long game like this you win if not stopped.

Say what you will, I view commenting on the Internet as more akin to the informality of speech than to "proper" sentences. Doesn't negate the fact that I am an officer on the Grammar Police force, spotted a mistake on a major news site and called it out for everyone's benefit.

Post a comment

CNN welcomes a lively and courteous discussion as long as you follow the Rules of Conduct set forth in our Terms of Service. Comments are not pre-screened before they post. You agree that anything you post may be used, along with your name and profile picture, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the license you have granted pursuant to our Terms of Service.

Search Security Clearance

Share this blog

About this blog

CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.